The Wanted

1. Glow

8 glasses of water a day. 

7 hours of sleep a night.

happiness that shines through all your interactions 

and a kindness that warms everyone you meet.

2.  Strength

1 hour of cardio a day

1 hour of strength training at night. 

Confidence that is unshaken by doubt and insecurity

founded on a belief in self and faith in God

3. Understanding

French and Spanish during the morning commute

American Sign Language while on the evening run

Pay close attention to the stories of others

Remember that they are fighting a battle you know nothing about

4. Courage

Do not let fear stop you from doing the above

Have the courage to add more below

The Power of Hope & Happiness: The Bucket List of a 4 year old in Africa

Videos like the one above inspire me more than I can say. Here is a boy with seemingly many cards stacked against him. Yet, despite it all, he finds a way to partake in one of the most beautiful and inexplicable things humans are capable of--hope.

Hope belongs to those who have the courage to believe that goodness still exists in the world. 

I truly believe this statement, but believing in goodness has become more and more difficult in our day and age. We live in a world where we are taught to be pragmatic and insatiable. We ask much of ourselves and expect little of others. The guarded are rewarded and the open are deemed fools. 

 Though these words are difficult to accept, they are almost always agreed on. With all the pain and suffering going on in the world, one can’t help but wonder where true happiness lies…whether it truly exists. It is easy to give up—to surrender ourselves to bleak outlooks of reality and protect our spirits from disappointment—but we can’t. 

We are human in our beliefs. Animals and the environment are subject to instinct and the natural science of our surroundings. We, on the other hand, are given the rather peculiar quality of hope. Despite all the sadness in this world, we continue to unreasonably believe that easier and better times are on the horizon. 

No matter how grim of an outlook you may claim, each breath that you take is a tribute to the hope in your heart. 

Make no mistake: you are not weak or naive to believe in the seemingly impossible. The smallest ounce of faith requires the strength of warriors. Our attempts at this perseverance binds humanity together. It is in our common partaking of mindless but heartfelt faith that we are able to live among others. We are united not in our suffering, but in our hope. 

We must not let the world rob us of the beauty of our faith. Goodness in this world has become more and more difficult to find amidst the terrors of today. But we should find comfort in the fact that our happiness is not founded on the proof of no evil...

It is in our faith and belief that happiness does still exist—somewhere and somehow. My hope is built on a trust in God and my happiness is found in the recognition of His abundant blessings around me, but wherever your happiness may be, I dare you to find it, chase it, and most importantly, believe that it exists.

Resilience after Typhoon Haiyan: Reflections After the Storm

According to USAID, as of January 29 2014, 16 million people were affected by Typhoon Yolanda

- 6,201 deaths

- 4.1 million people displaced

- 1.1 million houses

I want you to look at those number and then stop yourself from doing the inevitable: looking at them as just numbers. Each person in that count was someone’s child, someone’s father, someone’s mother, sibling, community leader and friend.

But as time passes, the media stops circulating the faces of the victims. We begin to lose the human aspect of the devastation by reducing it to a numerical figure.This is why I was incredibly impressed by this idea of hosting The After the Storm Event well after the media attention had come and gone.

For after the rubble has cleared and the news cameras are gone, what is there left to do when Typhoon Haiyan and the people of Tacloban are but a somber memory--a byline in the history books and stock images on Google of a devastation we knew but no longer feel?

After the attention passes and social media quiets down, when you are more redundant than you are “cool” for sharing stories of the victims months (and maybe years) after the event itself, we must remember that the people remain and their lives--as painful as it may be--continue. That though the world has helped to rebuild their homes we have a duty to help rebuild their lives. We can clear the rubble and erect houses for the victims, but the devastation continues after the storm.

These people must find jobs amidst a land ravaged by the elements.  

They must send their kids to schools that have been torn down completely. 

...and above all else, they must find the bravery to venture out of their homes and the strength to wake up each morning despite knowing there is one less person at the breakfast table.  

We must remind them that we will not forget them. We need to continue to send donations and maybe set up a google calendar alert to remind us to donate a few dollars every month. We must demand both domestic and international political support for restoration projects to revitalize their livelihoods and education. We should continue to ask questions about the situation from the media, from the politicians, and from ourselves.

We must be careful to not let this typhoon leave the wrong legacy--to not give it the space in our history, when scholars and politicians can point to it as the exact moment when the people of Tacloban and the Philippines suffered and never recovered. The days after the typhoon were a testament to the resilience of the Filipino spirit, but also a hopeful reminder that humanity is still capable of uninhibited hope and unselfish giving. That while the victims are, and will always be the true heros, Filipinos like you and me all over the world add their voice to this testament.

This typhoon was the most devastating storm in the history of man. 

While we praise resilience in the victims, we must demand resilience from ourselves.

Resilience is not strength. This implies an embedded capability to handle particular situations. I think we can all agree that no matter how strong someone can be, there is no human strength that can allow you to withstand seeing your best friend being crushed by the roof of her home or having your child swept away (quite literally) out of your hands and into the cold hold of death.

So what is resilience? I believe that true resilience is faith. Resilience is a blind belief that things will not be easy and you may not feel strong now or then, but despite that there is a reason and ability to continue. Resilience necessitates a painful understanding of the difficulties ahead, a realistic perception of your own capability, and a courageous move forward despite all of it. Resilience is brave, actionable, and inspiring faith that we must continue to act upon, build on, and share.

It is without a doubt that the Filipino people have approached this situation with resilience but we must continue. Amidst the fallen glass, the broken homes, and the shattered lives they have found hope--for many a hope in God and divine providence, but for all a hope that there is a reason to keep going.